Changing impressions.

I can't believe I am down on my last post in this blog. In this last post I am suppose to talk about my experience in Japan and how my first impression has changed at all. For the last four months time has really flown by and I have grown accustomed to the daily life of Japan. So to answer the question: How is my impression about Japan today? To be honest, it has both changed and confirmed what I thought about Japan before I got here. In my first blogpost I talked about the funny English that Japan keep insist using in their ads and commercials. But sometimes they are using the English in a malfunctioning way.

I am still amazed how such a futuristic country like Japan can have such high barriers of bad spoken English. I always get surprised when I meet a Japanese person who speaks good English. It is very hard to find. With a alphabet only focusing on foreign words (especially English) you would think they are really good at talking English. They use English in so many situations, their language, ads, movies, TV-series and so on. But when it comes to conversational English this is where it bursts.

(Busiest street in Japan, the big crossing in Shibuya, Tokyo.)

Another assumption I had before I got to Japan is how busy the country is. Everybody are busy or stressed here. People have places to be and things to do at all times. The thing that surprised me the most is how even though the country is very stressed and career is an important thing in Japan, people still take time for themselves. Just about queuing for a line for the bus or subway, sleeping on the bus or train etc. I can see why Hanami is one of the Japanese peoples favourite time of the year. This time of the year people really take time of for a beautiful viewing and a big feast under the beautiful trees.

(Beautiful sakura in Kyoto)

For being a very busy country every moment for yourself is being spent carefully. They really go all the way to appreciate all the free time they get. In Tokyo I had the pleasure to attend a anime/manga convention with live dressed people of their favourite anime character. To my surprise (well not really) most of the visitors were men or boys. Here is a another thing that bothers me or kinda freaked me out how public display isn't a big problem in Japan. Especially when it comes to older perversion for younger or light dressed people. In this anime convention the young girl dressed in revealing clothes got photographed by older men, queueing in line to get their dream picture of their fantasy. It seems like girls and woman are still treated as objects in some length in Japan, especially in popular culture.

(Animeconvention in Tokyo. Girls dressed as characters of the show Sailor moon)

I guess at one point dressing up for an animeconvention is a away to escape from all the stress and be part of the world the grown to love. This might be another chance for one to take time off from the stressful country that is Japan. This is what my motto was when I have been here, I take every free time I can get to make every moment count. Even to experience my first baseball game in Japan, and experience the atmosphere there.

(Hanshin Tigers game in Koshien Stadium)

So when it comes to my conclusion about my impression about Japan this far in and almost at the end of the semester I do have changing impressions but also got some of my assumptions confirmed. My first impression is especially how crowded and stressed the country is. To see people run for the train to catch the train on time (even though the next train arrive in 2 min) has kind of affected me. It is about saving every minute you get.

So what can I say about my experience in Japan that will give you a fair picture of Japan? To be honest I haven't really experienced the full life in Japan. For first I live in a dormitory with all other international students, I am taking classes with pretty much only international students, and I am mostly spending my time with other exchange students.

The thing I will miss most about Japan is probably the attitude over here. Japanese people are very positive (at least on the outside) and friendly people. To be able to walk to a complete stranger asking for help or honest people running after you if you forget anything. But when it comes to fully appreciate Japan I can't see myself returning in the near future. Being over here really gave me time to appreciate my own home country.

The things I will miss the most in Japan are very many but the are a lot of thing I won't miss in Japan either. I will miss the food, the availability for everything, the easy transports (even though they stop running 'round midnight), the weather and the attitude. Of course I will miss all the people I have met and living a life that is so different from my own life.

The thing I will mostly miss the least from Japan is the crowd. It is always so many people everywhere and it is a very stressful country. To come from a small country as Sweden (9 million people which is about the size of Osaka and Kyoto together) to a country that has pretty much as much area but about 120 million more people here makes me feel relieved to come back to Sweden.

The impression I have from Japan is better than I had before I got here. Japan is such a multicultural country with so many different aspects. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed my time over here, but for now I feel ready to return to the my normal life. I say normal, because life in Japan is totally different from my own life. Japan can still appreciate the small things and take every free time they get to it's fullest.

This is what I have learned in Japan. Live every moment to it's fullest and make every free time count, because you won't know when you get another chance. Japan have made me appreciate my life in Sweden. Time to say Sayoonara and thank you for this 4 months in Japan. I will not forget this experience, it made me a better person I am today. Arigatoo Nihon!

(Another busy street in Tokyo, the Harajuku district)

Politics in Japan when it comes to public affection.

This weeks post is about the politics of public affection in public. When I got here, I realised early how uncommon it is too see public affection between two people in a relationship. Don't get me wrong, it is everybody's own business what they do in their relationship. When I asked a Japanese friend of mine she told me that it's not really about what they want to do, it's what they are expected to do. When she went to South Korea in Seoul she was very surprised to see young couples kissing in public on the trains or wherever. But here in Japan that is considered rude. It is interesting how a country with so much diversity are afraid of being judged and considered to their feelings of complete strangers.

When I went to the aquarium in Osaka earlier this semester, I was not aware of that this place was known for it popular dating spot. When I arrived there (without a date, but instead with a lot of gaijin friends) we were all shocked to see all these couples, but none of them did more than holding hands. The first picture I have chosen this week is of these two seals in the aquarium, their animals and they are living the sweet life. Showing their own public affections to thousands of people everyday. Do we judge them? No, we don't. Why? Because it is part of nature.

Of course I am not comparing Japanese people to be below seals or what so ever but I for being a country that have come so far in the world when it comes to technology and education I still find it astounding that small things like these are issues. The next picture I have chosen is a typical cover for some kind of manga, these covers can be seen on every stop at the train stations. In Japan they have so many things that should be considered much worse than public affection, or at least frowned upon. Things like this cover, is the magazine for young kids or older men? If you go to Den Den Town in Osaka at night, what kind of stores are you likely going to bump into apart from a technical store? Yes, a porn store. You can even find anime porn, manga porn all very accesible to young children. We have Japanese Idol (which is best explaned as cute "regular teengirls posing in thin layer of clothes, like a photosession), maid cafés, love hotels etc.
You would think that this would take away the tabu about showing public affection. This is just one of many examples of how contradictive this country really is. It is different when it comes to a foreign mixed couple though. They do show public affection but still, you can tell they are holding a lot back. I hope I don't sound too much as a pervert after this post. But I just wouldn't be able to not kiss the person I love in public. I would probably do it anyways. Maybe that's the proof that I am not turning Japanese all yet. To be continued.

/Quangus

Sports in Japan

On Wednesday I had the pleasure to watch the Hanshin Tigers playing against the Chunichi Dragons. Hanshin Tigers are Osakas home team for baseball. I am from Sweden, so the biggest sport in Sweden (and the rest of Europe) is with out a doubt, soccer. So this was very exciting for me. I realised early when I was on my way to the train that this was going to be something very special.

I don't have a lot of experience of going to a baseball game before, so I was amazed of how all people who went to the game had some kind of items that supports the teams. The picture below is just one of many item shops that sells these two small hollow bats which are for banging together so you can make a loud sound. These items were used more than I realised.


It might be hard to see on the picture below, but the things I want to focus on is the balloons. On every game, when it's during the 7th inn in the crowd blows up their balloon and then release them simultaneously which resulted in a beautiful show of balloons flying in the air. It was quite the experience. The whole experience made me think how big baseball is in Japan.

How come baseball is so big in Japan? Japan is the ultimate sport in Japan. What comes to mind is about this documentary - The Japanese Version where they discuss about how America got it all wrong when it comes to Western movies. It is not about be alone and fighting people, it is about being together as a group and working together. I think they have the same view when it comes to baseball. Because every player on the time makes a difference, and with one player missing, this would make a big difference. That is why I think the game is so popular, it is about teamwork, playing for a city and being part of something big. When I went to the game, they have different chants for each player, and even though the team was losing, this didn't affect the cheering. Because in the end it is all about showing ur affection for the team, and being part of something that you can be part of. It doesn't matter if you are a fan or a player, everybody can join in. And that is why I will keep rooting for the Hanshin Tigers.
/Quangus

Gender in Japan.

Something that I have notice since I got here is how big the difference is between the genders. Even though women have come a long way on the equality scale it's hard to tell how far they have come in Japan. Especially if you count how many female students there are at the university. If you pay attention (not in a dirty way of course) you can easily spot that there are way more female Japanese students than there are men. Have this in mind, that many of these students are studying to become teachers. What I have noticed is that usually men are dressed in suits in the commercials and well dressed but on other billboards or ads, usually the women are dressed in a more light manner. In my first picture, you can see how women usually are portrayed when it comes to popular culture.

When I went to a theme restaurant called The Lockup in Kyoto, we were greeted by this girl, dressed as a policewoman. This is of course not a authentic police outfit, especially if you look at her skirt (please do not think I am a pervert now), which is short. So how are the woman portrayed?

In one issue of TIMEasia Magazine they discuss about how hard it is for a woman to be taken seriously and how hard it is to climb up in the career ladder when you are a woman. She discusses how women are expected to act at the workplace. For an example are the women not as involved as the men are at the workplace. The article is about woman who worked her way up at a American company.

"Because Japanese women are expected to quit their jobs when they have children, a record number are foregoing marriage altogether. Today, one in four Japanese women in their early 30s is single, up from 14% a decade ago. As a consequence, Japan's fertility rate fell to a record low of 1.29 in 2004 compared to 2.13 in the U.S., giving it one of the lowest birth rates in the world. Demographers predict that the country's population will actually start declining in 2007. If present trends continue, Japan will shrink from a nation of 127 million today to 64 million by the end of this century—and from 2010 onward, the declining population will adversely affect the economy." /TIMEasia Magazine

In the article from TIMEasia Magazine she discusses how this is affecting the population in Japan. This is becoming a big problem in Japan. Because women are trying to get careers ahead of families, but if women focus on families, then the unequality will continues. This is quite the paradox.

So after all, the gender unequality is a big problem, but it is a problem that is being worked on, but because the problem have existed for so long, it might be too late to work on it too much without big consequenses. In the long run, tradition and culture wins.

Sources
Article: http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501050829/story.html
- TIMEasia Magazine.

/Quangus

Religion in Japan

The focus for this weeks post is about religion in Japan. I won't go into deep about religion in Japan because I don't consider myself as a ethnographic authority enough. Instead of trying to explain how the religion works in Japan and so on, I will tell how the impression I got from how religious people are here. Even though I have spend more than half my semester here in Japan already, I still keep getting surprised how religion is part of the daily life in Japan.

The first picture I have chosen is of a shrine just outside of Kansai Gaidai University. The first time I saw this shrine I was quite surprised because it was on a crowded street. Soon I realised during my stay here in Japan that religion is part of the daily life. It's hard to talk a walk without seeing something connected to religion. I think this shrine shows how big religion is in Japan. Even though Japan is one of the busiest and crowdiest countries in the world, people still take time to pay their respect to a shrine, even in the most unexpected places.


My second picture is taken in Uji, just outside of Kyoto. This is a picture of the famous temple, Byôdô-in which is famous for its big golden Buddhastatue and its two golden phoenixes on its rooftop. This is also the picture of the back of the 10 yen coin. When we enter temple to see the big golden Buddha (pictures were not allowed) The guide told us about the story of why the Buddha was placed right there and explaned why there were a lot of other small Bodhisattvas on clouds. After the guide was over, people stayed a little bit after and clapped their hands twice and then closed their eyes while they were bowing.


So what kind of impression do I have of religion in Japan? If I make comparison between Sweden and Japan, the difference are a lot more. In Sweden we do have a lot less religion in public, even though you can easily spot churches everywhere. But it's not as part of your daily life if your not a religious person. In Japan, religion is part of the culture, and you can see buddhas in stores, shrines everywhere and it's not uncommon to see ads where you can see temples.

So to make a short summary, do these two examples explain the religion in Japan? These examples might be a small part of Japanese culture, I am saying culture because the impression I got from Japan is that their lives are not affected by religion so much, but instead of how religion have affected the culture. Things are implied in the culture today, and even if they aren't religious that still don't necessarily means that they don't have faith. On every temple I have been too there are always different things you can do that are said to give you good luck or viceversa. Even though I got the impression I have from Japanese people being very busy and stressed, they still take their time to go to a shrine and pray. Perhaps to get strength to continue their day.

The Japanese Version

The theme I have chosen for this weekend is about the Japanese music culture and how different Japanese bands use English in their lyrics. A lot of Japanese bands that are very big do have some English words in their songs, and especially during the chorus of the songs.
In the beginning of the semester I had the opportunity to go see a concert with two Japanese bands, the one the was the main act was called Shonen Knife. Shonen Knife is a band with three members, all of them women. The band is famous for it's lyrics about food, barbies and etc. To summarize their history, it is a band that was on the edge of hitting it big, and during the 90's they did a lot of tours in the US. The famous band Nirvana was so starstruck the first time they saw them, that Shonen Knife ended up being touring with Nirvana in both US, and in the rest of the world. The band has been active with different members since 1981 and are still active today. Their homecity is Osaka and as I mentioned before, they do music with english lyrics sometimes and sometimes they mix it.
I still found it very interesting about why some Japanese musicians use English words in their songs. I can understand if the whole song is in English, or part of it, but sometimes the English words fall out of context in the song. The second picture shows a typical sign people do on concerts, the rock sign with the fingers. How come they do it? The rock sign today has become a typical sign for just rock and roll, and you can't avoid it at concerts.

So how come Japanese music insists on using English words in their songs? Is it because they want to sound more western? Or is it because they are so used to listen to western songs with words like love, go, tonight and other worn out words in songs. This phenomena does make me sometimes feel a little bit disappointed, I went to Japan to experience Japanese music and culture, but it is hard, when the whole country is very influenced by the globalization. It's hard to walk into a music store and not noticed that the most selling artists in Japan use English in their songs.

Maybe that's why Shonen Knife became so popular during the 90's when they go to USA. Would they been popular if they didn't sing in English? Probably not, people wouldn't have had the interest to listen to them, because they won't understand them a slightly bit. Shonen Knife is just one of many bands that's been influenced by Western music. Who doesn't want to see three cute Japanese girls singing cute songs in Japanese and English?

I recommend to listen to them, they are actually pretty good and I do like them, but sometimes it's hard to take them seriously because of how the use the English in the songs. Here are some samples for my dear readers.









The last video is of another band called FLOW! Which also use a lot of English words in their song. This particular song is called GO! What do you think about the use of English in Japanese songs?

Feel free to read more about the biography on their webpage. They have both an English and a Japanese page.

/Quang

Special Blog post - Tadahiko Hayashi

The post for this week is a special blog post. The theme for this week is Japanese photographers. How is Japan visualized through the eye of a native Japanese? I have chosen Tadahiko Hayashi as my focused photographer. Hayashi was born in Japan 1918 and was mostly active in photography during the wartime but mostly after the war period. He has been praised for his documentary pictures and was active with photography until his death in 1990.

He was considered one of the most influential photographers during the time period after the war and the pictures he is famous for are the pictures taken after the war, which he have focus on the repercussions and the crisis Japan had after the fall of the empire.I have chosen these two photos because they are very uncommon during this time period in Japan. The first picture is taken 1946, and is a picture of a two orphaned kids smoking on the street.Orphaned kids on the street smoking, 1946.

The picture above is a very strong picture, with a powerful message. This was the reality for a lot of kids after the war, with their parents being killed in action the war, but also how the dramatic changes happened after the war. This picture shows the backside of the war and what poverty. It got so out of hand that the kids have started smoking. It reminds me of pictures of kids in Africa, who sniffs glue to get through their day.A writer in his study room. Taken around 1950

The final picture I have chosen is of a writer working in his study room. As you can see on the picture, it is a big mess. The picture gives me the impression of how important it was to work after the war, this man works so hard, that he doesn’t have time to clean or take a break. His food, and trash is everywhere. The subject of the photos are obviously the backside of the war. His picture were very contemporary and showed a more documentary feeling in the pictures. It is hard to see these kind of pictures in Japan today, because Japan have clearly got out of the crisis they had after the war.

Even though Japan do have poverty in small amount, that was nothing against what they had back then. These picture might now represent Japan today, but it shows that Japan have had a rough time, but they got through this hard time. It does represent the contemporary Japan during this time, but Japans image in the world is different today.

My personal opinions about the pictures is that it represents a dark chapter of Japanese history, and I have never seen similar pictures from this time. The first picture shows how the children of the war were affected, and the last picture shows how, even in the darkest times, he doesn’t give up, maybe this shows the Japanese mentality? Japanese people are famous for being very ambitious and strong for the determination. To summarize these pictures impact they had, is truly interesting. Even though it shows a dark chapter in Japan during these harsh times, it is today a memorable picture of how it used to be, and how strong Japan is today.

/Quangus

Sources for biography:

http://www.studioequis.net/showArtist.php?artistID=313

Sources for pictures:

Orphaned kids smoking on the street
http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4636:light-and-shade-images-of-post-war-japan-&catid=21:culture&Itemid=165

A writer in his study room
http://i.yimg.jp/images/cert/digicam_text/chap1/ph_009_01.jpg

Japanese Popular Culture

There are a lot of stuff in Japan that is very popular among the Japanese people. The one I have noticed the most is the whole 'cuteness' culture, or by some people called 'kawaii' culture. When I got here I knew very little about the big industry Japan is focusing on different things that are made for the younger generation. The first picture I've chosen this week is taken in SATY, the big mall in Hirakatashi.

I was surprised when I saw one whole store dedicated entirely on Hello Kitty. This is just one of the examples that is the kawaii culture. I find it very fascinating for how a country have built a whole industry for just the cuteness. In one of the following articles I found online - Japan smitten by love of cute. In the article the author discusses the cute phenomena. For instance, she quotes a Japanese professor that believes that cute proves the Japanese simply don't want to grow up.

I can relate to what he means. Sometimes it does feel like you are being treated like a child over here. Especially when even the warning signs are in cartoon or in manga form. Everything here is illustrated in manga drawings or with pictures of small and cute kids. The picture below is a great example of how they mixed something serious with something cute. This sign is a warning to not swim, but still the same time, it is very cute. I feel like the warning doesn't feel as important when it is illustrated like this.


So how come the kawaii culture doesn't hit big in the rest of the world? In Japan you do have a huge variety of things for the younger generation. Places like arcades, game halls, different stops where you can win teddy bears and so on. Sometimes I feel like a kid in a big toy store. This can of course make the Japanese younger generation be kids a longer time, but still it can create problems for them in the future. To see a manga kid telling you to use condoms with a big grin don't really give you the serious impression as you hoped it to be. There's nothing wrong with kawaii, but what happens when I am 40 years old, I would get tired of all cuteness, and honestly, I would feel like a pervert in a toy store, and no thank you, that I can do without.

/Quang

Japanese People

I can't believe it's almost been a month since I got here. Even though the time flies by fast, I feel like I have experience a lot of the Japanese culture and especially with people in Japan. One thing about the people here is how everybody are so nice and polite. I myself am from an Asian family and are aware of the whole respect the elderly culture with some modifications of the Swedish culture of course. Before I got here I had some certain ideas about how polite the japanese people are, but I was still very shocked HOW polite they are. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it does feel very sincere and it does make my day just to be part of the whole culture. But hearing a bus driver saying: arigatoo gozaimasu over and over with a depressing tone does take part of the sincerity away.

The reason I used the picture above is an example of how different it is from rest of the world. The picture is taken at a concert in Namba, Osaka. The band on stage is a band called WatusiZombie. It is not the band I am focusing on, it's the audience. I am a big music fan and I've been to a lot of concert in my life, but never in Japan of course.

The part that was surprised me was how the audience acted. Usually when you are at a concert it's very crowded and when the music starts, it gets really warm and a lot of people pushing and especially to that kind of music. It was pretty hardcore rock music, and where I am from, people are pushing and doing 'moshpits'. The point is: that even when you are at a concert, this is the perfect opportunity to unleash your feelings but there were no crowding or pushing at the concert, everybody was very careful not to touch the one next to you or disturbing anyone. Shouldn't a concert of all places make you go wild?
The other picture I've chosen is a one of the first pictures of me when I got to Japan. As you can see, I am doing a peace sign pose on the picture. Also called 'Japanese pose' among international students. And I have to agree, ever since I've gotten here, I think I do this pose on every picture. What is the meaning of it? The reason I chosen this picture is to demonstrate how some things have become part of the culture so much that it lost it's meaning, or at least part of it. People do it because everybody else is doing it, not because it is something they wants to do, but something that is implied. When they don't do it, they are afraid to insult people.

So it's not about doing something nice for somebody else, it is about not insulting people. After all, the culture is working and it really feels like the most polite and safest country in the world. I wouldn't mind being part of it, even after I return to Sweden.
Arigatoo gozaimasu! Thank you for reading as what they would say in the store.
/Quang

Neighborhood Hirakata

Konbanwa!
Since the last post I've been experience a lot in Japan, it barely feels like I have been in Japan for almost 3 weeks now. This weeks theme is my neighborhood Hirakata. Hirakata is for me very different from what I expected when I got here. I expected a big city with skyscrapers and futuristic buildings and so on. What keep bugging me since I got here, is how everybody complains how cold it is here. Where I'm from (Sweden), this is the beginning of the Swedish spring. What I like about Hirakata is how the whole town feels so small but in the reality it is the same size like the biggest cities in Sweden. I like to bike a lot here, and one thing I notice during the evenings is how everything is so quiet and dark. And this is only when I finish my afternoon class, the house are dark and I bet most of the japanese are working late.

The pictures I've chosen this week is how even though Japan is way ahead of it's time, we can still see a lot of the old japan, the traditional japan. The last picture shows how hard working japanese people are.


These two pictures are from the park right outside the seminarhouses. In the park there are a couple of stations where you can work out, and usually these places are occupied by seniors working out during evenings. No wonder Japan has the highest life-length in the world.

This store is one of the most visited by the exchangestudents. Even though the vendingmachines where you can buy beer is the most affiliated with this store, it's the woman who owns the store that fascinates me. I've been in that store a couple of times now, and it's surprising everytime I see that woman working there. She has to be at least 85 years old, and still, she is working there. How long do japanese people work? This store is open long during the evenings but is closed during the day. Even though Hirakata is bigger than most cities in Sweden, it feels way more smaller. I guess Hirakata is considered to be a small city in Japan if you compare it with rest of Japan.
/Quang